Ira Kaufman Talks Fan Backlash, Inside The Coaching Decisions, Playcaller Thoughts, And Much More
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It’s a can’t-miss dive into the state of Bucs fandom and how and why the Bucs made a lot of major decisions this week.
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January 10th, 2026 at 1:12 am
Yougottabekiddingme
January 10th, 2026 at 4:11 am
As long as Bowles is the coach, all these coordinater/positions coach changes are nothing more than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
January 10th, 2026 at 5:16 am
“Passion and Expectations” says it all!
We need an OC with strong experience. If we can get a strong OC, getting Raheem for DC would be okay. I like Monken and McDaniel. I was one on the fence about Harbaugh. Not a big deal that he goes elsewhere. We have a GM.
Still rooting for the Bucs. Yes, the new chant, “One more year, one more year!”
Fan backlash is a lot different this time around. It is bad. I thought Schiano was the worse coach ever. And in 2013, fans didn’t have all the online outlets to post on like there are today. In 2013, many of us were mostly talking about it at work, at home, and out at different venues too.
January 10th, 2026 at 5:39 am
I don’t think I’ve ever heard Ira as out of touch with the fans as this podcast. He wants to mostly give bowles a pass and blame the players. Did it on an earlier JBF pod (“the PLAYERS are not very good. The players are not very good.”), did it again today on Jay Recher’s pod (and BTW Ira, it wasn’t JUST Yaya that complained about the soft walkthrough practices. Dean {Bucs SB champion, can he have an opinion?} complained on the record as well, and SR is claiming 2 additional players complained off the record).
MULTIPLE polls on JBF, MULTIPLE polls on other well known Bucs media pages, ALL showing 90+% of the fan base wants bowles gone. Even if that’s just a segment of the fan base, it’s a pretty dang big segment. And pretty dedicated to consume that kind of Bucs content. I know it’s hard to wrap one’s mind around data like that sometimes, when the numbers are that extreme, but at the same time it really couldn’t be any more clear. Nobody comes out of a season like this clean, not Baker, Licht, Grizz, STC, etc. etc. But the fans think bowles deserves the lion’s share of the blame. He’s the top dog, responsible for it all. He’s in Licht’s ear about who to draft. His D is terrible & embarrassing. He couldn’t get the team motivated. Still had some terrible time/game management errors (end of half vs panthers). Baker regressed, but single-handedly won us a few games early in the season. Light hasn’t drafted any pro bowlers for 5 years, but he was instrumental in bringing BA and assembling a SB roster (that should’ve repeated). Grizz was a first year guy, wasn’t great, but had a lot of injuries to overcome. STC, well the less said about him the better, but bowles hired him and he didn’t have a stellar reputation to begin with. Basically bowles didn’t excel in a single area this year while other parties had some ups and downs.
Now I fully respect the Sage, and he’s a man entitled to his own opinion, but he should realize he’s in the small minority on this subject and not try to minimize the feelings of the majority of the fan base. I’m a Bucs fan, not a bowles fan. I don’t care about what’s best for him, or his family, or his ego. I care about what’s best for the Bucs, and to my mind, and the HUGE MAJORITY of other Bucs fans, that’s to get rid of him ASAP. I can support the team doing their best and failing. I cannot support them not giving their best effort, which is what keeping bowles represents to me. It’s like insisting on trying to win a fight with a hand tied behind your back. Just ridiculous and unnecessary. They can do it now, or do it next season after losing tons of money and respect, but the Glazers need to FIRE bowles.
January 10th, 2026 at 7:44 am
Ira – you are the man. Thanks for actually asking Bowles pointed questions and not acting like it’s a Pattycake session. Your spots with doggie are $ also. You are a legend.
January 10th, 2026 at 7:48 am
That said, backing Bowles as even a decent head coach is not possible. He is running on fumes from Brady and Bruce. And he doesn’t know his side of the ball. Check the stats. He Bowles, I mean, BLOWS
January 10th, 2026 at 7:55 am
Bowles’ tenure shows flashes of brilliance and some core strengths, but the year-over-year defensive performance, especially recently (like last 3 years), is evidence that he has not consistently delivered the kind of defense expected from a coach with his reputation. Or a head coach with a defensive specialty. He stinks and we are trending worse YOY. If Bowles and his performance were a stock, you would sell. Period.
January 10th, 2026 at 8:26 am
I remeber,
90% of fans that visit these fan pages, not 90% of all fans….
January 10th, 2026 at 8:28 am
I don’t understand why Ira doesn’t get the fact that Bowles can be JUST the HC and not wear the DC hat too because so many others do the exact same thing. Does McVay not have a OC just because he calls the plays? Did Arians call the plays? There are very few HC’s that were DC’s that still call the defense. And I am fine with the team telling Bowles to go a different route if he is being stubborn about it cause the route he was on was terrible. And that ridiculous quibbling over words about the Glazers meddling and number of fans out there. Do we now argue just to hear ourselves argue or talk or try to be smarter than the next guy?
January 10th, 2026 at 9:03 am
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the defense substandard in 2024, too?
January 10th, 2026 at 9:05 am
I was definitely a fan that stopped watching the Bucs when Winston was here. It was a joyous occasion when he was gone and I could come back.
Ira is wrong, I wouldn’t have regretted that stance If the Bucs had made the playoffs. Their record had nothing to do with it.
January 10th, 2026 at 9:54 am
It’s 2026, and there are too many entertainment options. If the Glazers lose the fanbase, it risks losing the franchise. Mark my words: the Glazers will not own this team in a few years. The stadium will be filled with opposing fans, and no one will support this team and coach look at this last season already. Ninety percent of the fans who visit this page represent roughly 70-80% of all fans who truly follow and care about the team. It’s like they’ve forgotten about their golden goose.
January 10th, 2026 at 10:19 am
Nobody wants to be an offensive coordinator under turtle Todd. Plain and simple. Our OC next year will likely be a unproven guy who will feel urgency to put up 40 points a game because the toilet Bowles defense can’t stop a backup wide receiver from being wide open in the middle of the field all game
January 10th, 2026 at 10:23 am
Cowardly move by the Glazers. It was incredibly evident that this team quit on Bowles going 2-7 in the last 9 games after their bye. That alone should have got his a$$ FIRED. The team played no juice and no emotion. He should have been FIRED as soon as our game ended on Saturday. Period!
Now coming out of the bye it was going to be difficult with games against Pats, Bills and Rams. I was hoping to split with Pats and Bills, because I knew damn well McVey was going to feed Bowles his lunch like he always does. Bucs went 0-3. Which should tell the glazers that we can’t hang with the top teams in the league…
However, the next 6 game stretch is a complete tell, and absolute grounds to be FIRED. Cards, Aints, Birds, Panthers, Fins, Panthers combined were 40-62. Panthers are the only team playing with their #1 QB. 2 rookie QB’s (Shough, Ewers), although only Todd Bowles D can make rookie QB’s look like Pro Bowlers. Tampa was only able to win 2 out of 6 against these awful teams.
That is absolutely embarrassing! FIRED!
The national media keep telling us that Bowles is a defensive genius/savant…he is absolutely not. Have you ever witnessed a DC like Bowles get so much run from one game (SB55) when the D harassed Mahomes all day. However, what the media conveniently leaves out, was KC was without both their starting OT’s. Bowles deserves credit, but c’mon…Bowles is so overrated it is ridicules. His D used to make teams 1 dimensional where they couldn’t run the ball…now they can stop neither the run nor the pass.
Since the bye Bucs D were ranked …
Points/GM 28.4 Rank 28th
Total YDS/GM 368 Rank 29th
Pass YDS/GM 257 Dead Last
Should be FIRED!
These were the ranks during the Miami game, as it came up on a graphic during game, so ranking may have changed slightly…however the point is the unit coached by a defensive genius/savant Bowles was incredibly bad. Grizzard’s offensive unit was poor and got fired, Bowles unit was much worse, and he kept his job. Please make it make sense…please!
Also, side note, Mike McDaniel has the identical record as Bowles over the last 4 seasons of 35-33 and he got turfed, tell me again why Bowles didn’t…oh ya the 3 NFC South Titles that were basically smoke and mirrors because of how poor the South (3 other teams win % .390) was over that period of time. If anyone points to these NFC South titles, they are in dreamland and pretending! Hmmmm actually Bowles did point to that during is Monday presser, saying he deserves to remain the HC because of the division titles…he is the pretender!
Again, an absolute coward move by the Glazers. The fans have had enough and will demonstrate with their wallets.
Signed a pi$$ed off Bucs fan!
January 10th, 2026 at 10:34 am
Bowles is bad and so is this roster. I cant wait for FA to see how serious this team is about winning and also who wants to come play for Bowles.
Will this team start firing players as well? Will this team expect more from its players every game or will it be business as usual?
Changing out the coaches solves part of the problem. Too many overpaid and underperforming players but many fans want to skip that topic.
As terrible as Bowles is, the roster is equally as terrible.
January 10th, 2026 at 10:50 am
What do you think Joe’s
I know the Joe’s don’t like college football head coaches but….
Glazers, don’t be cowards! See what is behind door #2 …How about doing something bold and courageous…. go get Curt Cignetti!
Indiana (basketball school) over the last 2 decades prior to bringing in Cignetti was a collective 90-148 .378 win %… Note: that is just slightly worse than the win % of the NFC South over the last 4 seasons of .390%.
Indiana brings in Cignetti and has an unprecedented historic turnaround the last 2 seasons going 11-2 and currently 15-0 and is on the brink of winning a National Championship. That is almost unconscionable!
Be bold Glazers, and all will be forgotten! Go get Cignetti!
January 10th, 2026 at 10:53 am
The Joe’s didn’t mention Ronde’s scathing assessment of the DB play this year. He likely advocated the defensive fires to leadership and may have advocated for a new DC like Raheem (a good idea to me). I think Arians, Bowles, and maybe Baker were not in favor of retaining Griz since Griz couldn’t react to defensive coaches catching up to him in the second half of the year.
I like bringing in an OC out of the McVay tree such as Nate Scheelhaase who is McVay’s pass game coordinator. It would be a promotion if Nate takes the Buc’s OC job. I don’t have a high opinion of Monken, a pass for me.
Bowles has generally had poor pass defenses and Ronde has been vocal to the public and very likely in-house. I don’t think new position coaches will fix the problem of blown coverages due to an overly complex system. That’s why I like bringing in a new DC and Bowles working with the new DC to simplify the system.
January 10th, 2026 at 11:27 am
I would never root against the Bucs, but I’m a realist who can see that this team is going nowhere with this clown in charge.
January 10th, 2026 at 12:02 pm
I consume a ton of Bucs sports talk and media articles covering the team.
And this site is by a million miles the only place that Bowles gets preferential treatment and special coverage to help mask his ineptitude.
Ira is entertaining and I enjoy his podcasts. But he’s too close to the Glazers.
When he gives an opinion on Bowles it’s likely a direct correlation to how the owners feel about him as well.
The defense under Bowles can’t stop a wet fart. 32nd in red zone defense.
Absolutely zero reason to retain Bowles. Especially if the majority of defensive coaches got fired.
The Glazers are willing to waste a fifth year of the fan bases lives, money, and sanity.
I truly hope they sell the team to someone that actually wants to win.
January 10th, 2026 at 12:20 pm
Kudos to Lee and Steve for sticking up for fans… Ira though… What a dip sh** little munchkin…
January 10th, 2026 at 12:30 pm
Someone get Ira a big bottle of mouthwash because he has a lot of crap coming out of his mouth
January 10th, 2026 at 12:35 pm
Tell me in what area has Jason LICKT excelled in… JUST ONE, in at least the past 2-YEARS+!? LICKT MUST BE KICKT. Anything else is a complete WASTE. 💯
January 10th, 2026 at 12:42 pm
Jason drafted us a wr that was going to win us games if Evans missed time. How’d that work out
January 10th, 2026 at 1:01 pm
The 2013 Schiano hate was more fierce.
People hated the repeated kneel down crashing that made Tampa a national embarrassment when we were also 0-whatever, dealing with Freeman drama, and MRSA.
What’s worse with Bowles is that there’s no mercy. He never gets fired so things just keep festering. Imagine if Schiano was allowed to do 2013 for 5 years in a row.
January 10th, 2026 at 1:28 pm
@ I Remember 21 Says: “I don’t think I’ve ever heard Ira as out of touch with the fans as this podcast.”
I don’t believe he is out of touch with the fans. I KNOW that this entire organization has become NOTHING BUT one huge circle-jerk. Since the Super Bowl and Brady, ALL of these local guys have become nothing but straight up kool-aid drinkin’ Lickt-LICKIN’ SHILLS. They’re ALL connected so deep within one another… It’s just become one big club.
Loads of misrepresenting here. Joe, despite your nonsense, believes Licht has done a strong job. That’s WHY there were such high expectations for Bowles. You can’t have it both ways. Why the outrage at 8 wins if Licht didn’t stock the roster with contender-level talent? Joe is no shill or part of any boys and girls club you think exists. Most fans here believe a different coach would have won 10 or 11 games this season … but it’s the front office’s fault.-Joe
Once Brady arrived, they were all DESPERATE for ACCESS, and to be made to ‘feel-like’ they were closely involved and a “PART OF IT” all.
Do you realize for 2 full seasons (COVID) media essentially was locked out of meeting with players? –Joe They’ve all become too close and the BUCS FO as a whole, has made THEM ‘think’ that they are all very close friends, that they are all in it “together.” Joe would applaud being denied this access for which you speak. This site was built without it and would thrive regardless, perhaps more than it does now. You’d be surprised how many inside 1 Buc reach out to Joe on their own. That surely would increase. Is there media terrified of losing access and not being liked? Absolutely. But that is not unique to the Bucs. It’s a reality with every sports team. –Joe Most of them don’t want to lose that, and they LIKE ‘EM. They’ve been made to feel “important” and part of The Club. At times, it has clouded their judgement. For the most part, THEY KNOW IT, but are just too afraid to say or do anything about it. It’s all just SO PATHETIC.
I know how this stuff works with these people. Especially, for fake virtue-signaling ’cry-babies’ like Jay Recher. Hell, he ‘thinks’ they’re all FRIENDS. And, since he’s been booted from WDAE, I mean, it’s ALL HE’s GOT left, to be a LICKT-LICKER. I mean, ANYONE with just ‘half a brain’ (and EYES) would know that BOWLES (and JL) are FULLY responsible for THIS, and are in way over their heads, and totally CLUELESS. So, you just can’t take anything THEY SAY as being 💯.
They’re NOT going to be tough on these guys! They’re going to do what they have to do at times, in order to make it “appear” that they are holding them into account. But, when in reality, they’re going to give them a ‘warning’ and little ‘head up’ about it before THEY SAY, or DO ANYTHING. Even then, they’ll keep it extremely light!!!! It’s ALL one BIG JOKE. Just “Smoke & Mirrors.” Entirely FAKE. It’s NOT real. None of it.
January 10th, 2026 at 1:35 pm
ABSOLUTELY love Cignetti.
ABSOLUTELY NOT as an NFL coach.
January 10th, 2026 at 1:54 pm
@ I Remember 21 Says: “he’s a man entitled to his own opinion, but he should realize he’s in the small minority on this subject and not try to minimize the feelings of the majority of the fan base.”
Oh, HE KNOWS alright! He’s just a SHILL. He’s a bought and PAID FOR hired gun. 💯 There’s NOTHING he says anymore, that makes SENSE. 💯
January 10th, 2026 at 2:45 pm
Don’t believe your lying eyes believe the cow manure we are shoveling …got it Ira
January 10th, 2026 at 3:01 pm
Joe – I actually DON’T believe that all the “Joes” are shills, or part of the club, & etc. BUT, I sure as hell do with people like Ira, T-Krass, and a few others. People like Jay Recher, are just stupid and delusional. He’s only made HIMSELF ‘believe’ that he’s in the club. He is SO DESPERATE to be, that he’ll literally say and do anything, in order to always toe-the-line, in hopes of ‘feeling’ involved.
As far as the “Joes” go tho… I just can’t believe that EVERY single one of the “Joe’s” writing on here, are ALL on the exact same page (with concerning JL)… If there really are several ‘different’ Joe’s!? But, this ‘obsessive’ insistence on using the whole “Ring of Honor” ordeal, then combined with REFUSING to write any type of scathing articles EVER, breaking down the MANY ‘shortcomings’ and flat-out FAILURES of JL, just really raises a lot of eyebrows!? Especially, when there are like 8000 of them on Bowles, and everyone and everything else, under the sun. But, then never on LICKT!?
I find that awfully odd and possibly, telling!? When, there are just waaaayyy too many HORRIBLE DECISIONS (that never made any sense from the jump), to even begin listing them all… Especially, during the last 2-YEARS. I don’t believe there’s been EVEN ONE ‘smart’ good move he’s made, that anyone can name off the top of their heads. And, no, you CAN’T include EE either, AFTER the ‘re-signing’ of Godwin. Even, if you do… THEN, WHAT!? He is “the guy” in-freaking-charge of everything, right!? Or, isn’t he!? HE DID extend BOWLES, right!? I can’t see HOW ANYONE could even begin to make any type of an argument for fricking BOWLES. Do you know something I don’t know then… That really, HE isn’t “in-charge!?”
I don’t know, it just seems weird to me. The Joe’s went from constantly SLAMMING JL on a daily basis just 2-years ago, about a (“pass rush”) EDGE RUSHER and Reddick… And, now CRICKETS.” Sorry, but that’s awfully odd to me. When, literally all day, every day, HE was being ‘screamed at’ by all the Joe’s. But, maybe, that was different then, since it wasn’t actually ‘calling-out’ HIS overall record as GM. That is… 93-104, by the way! But, 12-YEARS now!? Come on! It’s like a total malaise or something, that all of you guys are stuck it right now, when it comes to Jason Frickin Lickt. It just makes no sense. He is sooooo unimpressive, it’s ridiculous. In EVERY way imaginable.
January 10th, 2026 at 3:07 pm
And, that is WHY I come HERE to THIS SITE, versus the others. 💯